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Percy Watson
| birth_place = Leland, North Carolina | death_date = | death_place = | resides = Wilmington, North Carolina | billed = South Beach, Florida | trainer = | debut = 2009 | retired = }} Nicholas "Nick" McNeil (August 19, 1981) is an American colored commentator, professional wrestler and former professional football player. In WWE he worked in their developmental territory NXT under the ring name Percy Watson. McNeil has also wrestled independently as Cordell Porter. Football career College Nick McNeil graduated from Western Carolina University with a bachelor's degree in computer information systems. He was a 3 time All-Southern Conference selection at linebacker for the Catamounts. As a sophomore, he led the Southern Conference in sacks with 10. As a junior, he led the conference in fumble recoveries. He finished his career tied for 4th all time on the WCU tackles-for-loss list with 45. He finished 6th on the WCU all-time sack list with 18.5. Professional football After college, McNeil signed a free agent contract with the Pittsburgh Steelers and bounced around the NFL spending time with the Washington Redskins, Green Bay Packers, and the New York Giants. He never played in a regular season game, but did play briefly in the divisional round of the 2005-06 NFL playoffs (January 14, 2006: Washington Redskins vs. Seattle Seahawks). Professional wrestling career World Wrestling Entertainment Florida Championship Wrestling (2009–2010) McNeil signed a developmental deal with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) in 2009 and began training with their development territory, Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW). He made his FCW debut in September 2009 under his real name Nick McNeil, however shortly after that he tweaked his name to Chris McNeil. On October 1, 2009, he re-introduced himself as Percy Watson along with his tag team partner Darren Young and they called themselves the South Beach Boys. NXT (2010-2013, 2016) McNeil participated in the [[WWE NXT#Season 2|second season of NXT]] under the name of Percy Watson, with MVP as his mentor. Watson made his debut on the June 8, 2010 episode of NXT with the nickname "Showtime" Percy Watson, teaming with MVP and defeating Husky Harris and Cody Rhodes. Watson was noted for being fun, energetic and similar to Eddie Murphy. As part of his gimmick, Watson wore red glasses and even wrestled with his glasses on. In the NXT poll on the June 29 episode, Watson was ranked in second place, just behind Kaval. On July 6, Watson won the Talk-the-Talk challenge and is rewarded with the chance to host a talk show the following week. In his talk show segment, Watson had his Pro MVP as his talk show guest. However, in order to make a statement, Watson tried to set up MVP to receive an attack from the other Rookies, but the other Pros came to MVP's aid. On the July 20 episode of NXT, Watson was a guest on MVP's VIP Lounge, where he was confronted by MVP about his actions the previous week. The two made amends after a heartfelt apology from Watson. On the July 27 episode of NXT, Watson became the first Rookie to defeat a Pro in a singles match by defeating Zack Ryder. On the August 17 episode of NXT, Watson was eliminated from the show, finishing fifth overall. After Season 2 of NXT, Watson then competed in various dark matches but never appeared on WWE programming. Watson returned on WWE programming on the September 8 episode of WWE Superstars without glasses and with a more toned-down gimmick, teaming with Titus O'Neil in a losing effort against Curt Hawkins and Tyler Reks. He then redebuted on [[WWE NXT#NXT Redemption (Season 5)|the fifth season of NXT]] not as a Rookie, but as Titus O'Neil's friend and tag team partner. Watson and O'Neil would enjoy success against Derrick Bateman and Tyson Kidd, as well as Bateman and JTG. However, Watson and O'Neil would find themselves unable to beat Darren Young and JTG. Watson would also compete as a singles competitor on NXT, earning wins against the likes of Tyler Reks and Heath Slater. After O'Neil turned his back on the fans, he urged Watson to do the same on the January 25, 2012 episode of NXT. When Watson refused, O'Neil shoved him and a match between the two was booked, leading to O'Neil defeating Watson. O'Neil continued to attack Watson after the match, leading to Alex Riley saving Watson. On the February 1 and February 29 episodes of NXT, Watson and Riley teamed up to face O'Neil and Young, but were defeated both times. On the March 7 episode of NXT, Watson received his rematch against O'Neil and defeated O'Neil. From late April, Watson was involved in a storyline in which he was blamed for various backstage attacks on other wrestlers, but the storyline was abruptly dropped as NXT Redemption drew to a close. On the final episode of the fifth season of NXT on June 13, Watson teamed with Derrick Bateman in a loss to Curt Hawkins and Tyler Reks. After the conclusion of NXT Redemption, NXT transitioned into the renamed Florida Championship Wrestling developmental territory. Watson continued on appearing on the rebooted WWE NXT show in a loss to Jinder Mahal on the July 18 episode. It would be the start of a losing streak for Watson, who went on to lose to the likes of Kassius Ohno and Leo Kruger in 2012. Watson then formed an occasional team with Yoshi Tatsu, but they could find no success either; losing to the Ascension (Conor O'Brian and Kenneth Cameron) on the November 14, 2012 episode of NXT. On the January 23, 2013 episode of NXT, Watson and Tatsu entered the NXT Tag Team Championship Tournament to crown the inaugural champions but were defeated by the Wyatt Family (Luke Harper and Erick Rowan) in the first round. On May 17, 2013, Watson was released; his final televised match was a loss in a six-man tag match against The Shield. The reason behind his release from WWE is because he showed an attitude change since he is taken off the road as a RAW member, by missing practices. Independent circuit (2014) After being released, Watson made his independent debut on June 14, 2014 at Universal Championship Wrestling event called UCW Hometown Throwdown, in Georgia where he lost to Lance Hoyt. Return to WWE NXT color commentator (2016–2019) On November 30, 2016, at the WWE NXT taping, Watson returned as the third man in the broadcast booth, joining Tom Phillips and Corey Graves. 205 Live color commentator (2018–2019) In April 2018 after WrestleMania 34, Watson joined the 205 Live broadcast booth for two weeks due to the absence of Nigel McGuinness for the birth of Nigel's daughter. He was later reunited with Nigel and Vic Joseph on the following week. In wrestling *'Finishing moves' **''Float-over DDT'' *'Nicknames' **"Showtime" *'Managers' **Montel Vontavious Porter (M.V.P) *'Tag Teams and Stables' :*South Beach Boys - with Darren Young Championships and accomplishments *'Pro Wrestling Illustrated' **PWI ranked him #'238' of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2010 External links *Percy Watson Profile on CAGEMATCH * WWE Profile Category:1981 births Category:2009 debuts Category:American wrestlers Category:Former football players Category:North Carolina wrestlers Category:World Wrestling Entertainment alumni Category:WWE NXT alumni Category:Florida Championship Wrestling alumni Category:NXT season 2 Category:Living people Category:Male wrestlers Category:Universal Championship Wrestling alumni Category:Commentators